When I first reported to NAS Memphis, I was assigned to Avionics primarily for one reason. I aced their math test. It had 20 regular math questions and 5 algebra questions. In the next 13 weeks, I went through a 16 week electronics school. Four weeks of it was math. We went all the way from “2+2” well into vector analysis.

You might find this strange, but back then, calculators simply did not exist. We used slide rulers. We performed all our math on what we called slip sticks. Nowadays, I don’t guess many even know what they are, let alone how to use them.

Actually, the little things were not foreign to me. I took algebra and electronics while in high school. One thing I learned between the two classes, I was very good at the math when applied to electronincs and in pure math, not so much. In electronics, I breezed through all the math. On the other hand, I spent many a frustrating hour working on the algebra. I never could figure that out.

When going through the school in Memphis, we did tons of math and came out second in my class. I still have problems with any advanced algebra problems, though I have no problem at all with tougher problems as related to electronics.

As I’ve said many times before, must just be something wrong with my brain.

However, when they came out with the basic calculator, I was elated. Most of my problem in algebra was simple math. You know, adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing. With a calculator in my hands, I didn’t make those mistakes. It was my highway to advanced math, I thought. When I hit calculus, it was like hitting a brick wall.

For a long time, I settled on that. Then one day, I bought one of those TI calculators with all the crazy functions on it. I sure do wished I had it when I was in high school. For that matter, it would have been great when going through the electronics school. I knew, as long as I pushed all the right buttons, the work would be perfect.

Then one day, I was going through the instruction book and found that I could use the calculator to find integrals. I followed the instructions and it worked, perfectly. For the following year or two, I went around explaining it to people who have math degrees and asked, 1. what is an integral and 2. why would I need one?

After access to the internet, I decided to see if someone on the internet could explain it. Well, yes and no. Yes they explain it, but no I still don’t understand it. I barely have grasp as to why I would need it. However, even there, I’m shaky. If I do have a situation for it and enter all the right numbers into the calculator, and I am sure I would get all the right answers. However, I still wouldn’t know how to use them.

I guess I have always been kind of a practical person. If I could find a person who could show me how to use it in electronics, I just might be able to get a grasp of it. However, without a purpose, it doesn’t seem to have a purpose.

I start out from Memphis and drive a constant 70 mph for a little over 2 hours west and I will be in Little rock. I guess that is something of an integral. However, how do I put that on paper and how is that applied to other things? On the other hand, If I start out and it takes 2 hours to get to Little Rock, I know I must have driven about 70 mph. I know that that is a differential calculation. I do it in my head, it is simple. I simply have no way to understand it on paper.

I know, until I can figure out how to put it on paper, I’ll never be able to go any farther. And it is frustrating to know that I have such a powerful tool in my hands and I’ll never figure out any way to use it.

Well, it is academic now. I’m retired. Besides I am old and learning has become very difficult for me. In fact, when I think about some of the old problems I worked on, I can’t even do them, though I used to do them in my head too.

The one thing that still bothers me is that some day, some time, I might come on a really difficult problem that would be really easy if I knew how to use an integral.